State extends deadline for $58 million Hanson school project

Friday

Mar 14, 2014 at 2:01 AMMar 14, 2014 at 9:16 AM

Local officials now have until early June to act on the agreement, which provides Hanson $29.3 million to construct a combined elementary school as a replacement for the Indian Head and Maquan schools.

HANSON – The state has cleared the way for school officials to revisit a $58 million project to replace two Hanson elementary schools.

The Massachusetts School Building Authority granted the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District permission Wednesday to continue working under a funding agreement originally approved last July but lapsed most recently on March 3, Superintendent Dr. Ruth Gilbert-Whitner said.

Local officials now have until early June to act on the agreement, which provides Hanson $29.3 million to construct a combined elementary school as a replacement for the Indian Head and Maquan schools. Taxpayers would cover the remaining costs, potentially through a 25-year bond.

Gilbert-Whitner said the Regional School Committee is tentatively scheduled to take up the matter Wednesday. At this point, the committee has to decide whether to send the proposal back to the Hanson Board of Selectmen for approval. If that board receives it and votes in favor by a two-thirds majority, it could go directly to the ballot.

The new school would house students in preschool through Grade 5. Elementary students would come from Hanson and preschool students from both towns.

Because the cost exceeds a $5,000 ceiling for district-funded repairs, Hanson but not Whitman residents would pay by way of a proposed property tax override.

Hanson residents voted in favor of the project in October and January, but not by a two-thirds majority. Town officials now say that those attempts were flawed because of faulty legal advice and that only a simple majority vote is required.